Award for Re-performability
The Weimar-based “(da)ensemble” is honored at the D-bü Competition
The D-bü Competition for New Concert Formats, organized by German music universities, came to a close last weekend in Würzburg with a festive awards ceremony. Eight student ensembles were selected from 55 submissions by the 24 German music universities to stage innovative concert formats at extraordinary venues throughout the city.
The “Prize for Re-performability,” worth 4,000 euros, was won by the “(da)ensemble” from the Weimar Music University with its program “Ara(da)zwischen.” The ensemble consists of three musicians with three distinct perspectives: Clara Reinisch (piano, fortepiano), İpek Atila (violin, baroque violin), and Milea Henning (spatial design, effects, percussion) develop collaborative interdisciplinary programs that bridge classical music and new concert formats. Shaped by their diverse artistic and personal experiences, they find new ways to shape concert experiences. Their collaborative work views the concert as an open space where sound and context, together with the audience, become a dialogue and a resonance.
“It was an honor to meet so many creative people during the competition, and as an ensemble we felt very inspired and grateful to have been selected for the finals,” says Weimar violin student İpek Atila. “We are particularly pleased to be able to touch people through our personal stories and to create a new approach in which instrumental quality, historical performance practice, and contemporary music come together to open up an emotional space.”
The D-bü Competition, which takes place every two years at a different Music university and was hosted by the Würzburg University of Music in 2026, is considered an important platform for emerging creative musicians. Students from German music universities curated and presented programs featuring cross-genre approaches, ranging from early and contemporary music to music theater and immersive, performative media installations, thereby highlighting just how diverse, vibrant, and thoughtful the next generation of the music scene is.
The jury, consisting of students from German music universities and led by Prof. Dr. Wiebke Rademacher (mdw Vienna), recognized all entries and ultimately awarded the equal-ranking prizes—each endowed with 4,000 euros—to the following ensembles:
Prize for Originality:
Ensemble Hunch with the program Villa Echoes – Sound of Memory
University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (Maria Matinyan, Paul Bießmann, Ophelia Flassig)
Prize for Re-performability:
(da)ensemble with the program Ara(da)zwischen
University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar (Clara Reinisch, İpek Atila, Milea Henning)
Audience Choice Award:
Püppchenkollektiv with the program “Women’s Love and Survival”
Rostock University of Music and Drama (Lea Hartlaub, Maxine Moesta, Lara Göhlert, Olesia Stepanova, Viktor Maria Sommerfeld)
[May 7, 2026]